The company, which according to its websites has several existing factories in Xiamen, Fujian province, said the new 34,000 square meter facility will be completed by the end of this year, and will give the company a total of about 100 injection molding machines and five to eight extrusion lines.

Sanideng is making the sizable investment because it cannot meet customer demand in China and in export markets, and hopes the facility can help it grow in overseas markets, where it remains a relatively new player, although its products are exported to Europe, North American and Southeast Asia, said company spokesman James Zhang, in an email to Plastics News.

The new factory, in Xiamen's Tong'An Industrial Zone, will focus on industrial pipe and related products in PVC, PVDF, PPH and other materials, he said.

Sanideng formed in 1976 in Taiwan, where it has a prominent place in middle and upper segments of the local market, and has been selling in the Chinese mainland since the early 1990s, he said. In 2004, it established pipe production in Xiamen, and in 2007 established a mold making factory there.

Zhang said the company is targeting both original equipment manufacturing for markets like the United States, where it's met with some "obstructions," and in developing its own Sanking brand, he said.

"For overseas markets, we are still a new guy," he said. "We just hope to promote a different made-in-China brand, not only [to] offer quality products, but also technical support and service."

On its website the company said it has extrusion lines from Krauss Maffei, along with injection presses ranging from 650 tons to 1,800 tons clamping force. It said it was one of the first companies in mainland China to adopt precision machinery in making valves and pipe.

It said its products meet NSF and ANSI standards for drinking water in the United States, and said it received the European CE certification in 2008.